Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Here are some pictures of a Carolina Wren house in my parents' yard in Bourne, MA (Monument Beach to be specific). Each year my mom has at least one Carolina Wren family nesting in the yard. Usually they go after some of the more traditional bird houses she has up, but this year they decided to nest in an ornamental bird house, not meant for actual birds!

Since Carolina Wrens are so small, this bird house actually suits their needs just fine. Here are some pictures of the wren nervously looking out and waiting for me to get in my car and leave. Right before this, the bird was bringing food to its babies- specifically a nice green inchworm.

Carolina Wren House:

Carolina Wren House in context of the yard (you can see how small the house really is):

I had hope to capture the Carolina Wren call on video, but I just wasn't fast enough with my camera. But I do have an older video on my blog featuring the Carolina Wren Song.

Rhode Island birder Dan Cinotti was scanning Sisson Pond for birds and instead caught sight of an alligator sunning itself on a rock.

Photo credit: Dan Cinotti

As of August 30th it was still seen in the pond, and DEM officials still were not able to capture it. To further complicate matters, the southern area of the pond where it has been spotted is considered private so unless the owners request its removals, DEM is not under obligation to return to try and capture it. For more information read the full article here: http://portsmouth.patch.com/articles/update-alligator-to-stay-at-sisson-pond

It's quite sad because obviously the alligator cannot survive a winter in the pond. I hope someone is able to capture it and deliver it to a refuge or zoo. All because some idiot tried to keep it as a pet and released it once it got too big... Speaking of which, anyone remember the move Alligator (1980)? Great movie.

I recently went birding in Rhode Island with my BwBTC (birders who blog, tweet, chirp) group, but fortunately we didn't encounter any alligators! I did see a huge snapping turtle sticking its beak out of the water to breathe (while at Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge, another popular RI bird watching spot), but that was the largest reptile spotted.

Check back for pictures from the BwBTC trip- uploaded but certainly not sorted through yet... I'm getting there :)

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

June 5th we finally got around to visiting Tuckerwood Conservation Area. It's so close to our house, but we just never ventured over to it. Be warned though- it's very buggy so make sure you load up on bug spray first.

It turned out to be an excellent spot for birdwatching- especially the powerlines area. That's where I saw this blue-winged warbler, and eastern towhee. The only thing that made me nervous was that I kept hearing large animals moving around in the bushes and I was worried there were coyotes there. Hopefully it was just deer or something.

Blue-winged warbler:

Look at the worm in its mouth! Clearly this bird is nesting. I'm always excited to see warblers, especially outside of migratory season. I'm still getting to know the warblers that stick around Massachusetts. To help, I've been following the blog "In Pursuit of Warblers" which is run by a gentleman named Larry in Western Massachusetts. Granted, the birds there will be different from Southern Massachusetts where I live, but it's still a good reference.

Eastern Towhee:

Eastern towhees are a bird I've gotten more and more excited about in recent years. Mainly because I've been able to match them up with a familiar bird call I've heard my whole life. That's always an exciting part of improving my birding skills- being able to identify all the calls I hear in and around Massachusetts. Hilke over at "One Jackdraw Birding" recently posted an audio clip of the Eastern Towhee song.

Find more information about Tuckerwood Conservation Area and other Bridgewater Parks.